iPhone Sales Propels Apple to Record Quarter

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple shrugged off a slight year-over-year decline in iPhone unit sales to set all time highs in revenue and earnings in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Apple shipped 77,316 iPhones during the quarter ended Dec. 30, a decline of about 1 percent compared with the year-ago quarter and an increase of 66 percent compared to the previous quarter. But, thanks to higher iPhone average selling prices, revenue from iPhones surged to $61.6 billion, up 13 percent year-over-year and up 113 percent sequentially.

Apple's high-end iPhone X — which retails for $999 — was the top selling iPhone every week since its release in November, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an analyst conference call following the quarterly report. He added that iPhone X was the best-selling smartphone in the world in the December quarter, according to market watcher Canalys.

As a result, Apple logged record quarterly revenue of a whopping $88.3 billion, up 13 percent year-over-year and up 68 percent compared with the previous quarter. Apple's profit exceeded $20 billion for the quarter — up 15 percent from the year ago quarter. Fourth quarter earnings equated to $3.89 per share, also an all-time record.

International sales accounted for 65 percent of Apple's sales during the quarter, the company said.

Tim Cook

"Our growth was broad-based and a key driver was iPhone, which generated its highest revenue ever," Cook said during the analyst call.

Shipments of iPads — paced by the high-end iPad pro — also grew during the quarter, as did revenue. IPad sales of $5.9 billion was up 21 percent sequentially and 6 percent year over year.

Apple's Mac sales declined during the quarter to $6.9 billion, down 4 percent sequentially and down 5 percent year-over-year. However, these declines were more than offset by an 18 percent increase in services revenue and a 36 percent increase in sales of other products.

In total, Apple now has an installed based of 1.3 billion total devices, up 30 percent in just two years, Cook said.